Today we’re sitting down to talk to a rising Russian superstar builder, Timofey Tkachev. He has been in the online LEGO community for quite a few years, but the past two years have seen his spectacular creations gain increasing traction. Each of Timofey’s new builds improves upon those before it, but even with a sizable Flickr following and regular activity in the Russian LEGO User Group RFFL, there are many who haven’t yet discovered his work. Time to find out more about him!
Category Archives: LEGO
Guy Smiley Killing Drone [Instructions]
Have you ever wanted to build your own meatbag killing machine? Or perhaps a robot helper for your minifig friends? Have you seen a drone made by some dude who goes by Guy Smiley on the internet, and thought I need one of those…? Well now’s your chance, because I made instructions for my deadly little robot, to fulfill all your LEGO drone building desires.
Not your ordinary witches
Holidays continue to creep into each other’s seasons if retail stores are any indication, but it is never too early for Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, brought to us by Eero Okkonen. These two witchy looking characters are straight out of Terry Pratchett’s brilliant mind and are part of a large cast of characters that bring Discworld to life, which Eero has been working through. We’ve already featured a number of them, such as the denizens of the Unseen University, or Lu-Tze. I absolutely love the detail that goes into the witches’ faces; you can clearly see two distinct characters despite using a small selection of parts. The black dresses are both unique to each character and have plenty of detail.
Cycling the Paris-Roubaix
The Paris-Roubaix is one of the oldest bicycle races in the world, having begun in 1896. Its famously rough cobblestone route is memorialized here by Luca Di Lazzaro as a large vignette, with carefully spaced tiles arranged to create the uneven pathway. The grim faces of the riders harken to the race’s nickname as The Hell of the North. The trees are a simple design, yet quite effective for adding a bit of greenery to the grueling route.
Facing off with 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon from The LEGO Ninjago Movie [Review]
Ninjago is never complete without at least one dragon, and new The LEGO Ninjago Movie line is no exception. Today we’re face to face with 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon, available now for $49.99. The dragon has 544 pieces and comes with four minifigures.
Have a slice of this delicious cake because it’s somebody’s birthday somewhere!
The possibility of mimicking literally any material or texture with plastic LEGO bricks never ceases to amaze me. This extremely appetising chocolate cake by Kai NRG/Geneva features just a handful of curved slopes in reddish brown colour and is fairly simple, but the decorations are a little confectionery masterpiece. Elegantly shaped elephant tail/trunk pieces, which the sweet cream on top of the cake is made of, look almost edible.
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for September 3, 2017 [News]
In addition to the best LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick also brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the first week of September 2017.
TBB STAR WARS NEWS: A galaxy far, far away dominated the news this week, with the reveal of the long awaited (though not unexpected) UCS Millennium Falcon.
- New LEGO Star Wars 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon unveiled as largest LEGO set ever — The new UCS Falcon will include 10 minifigs, and clocks in at a whopping 7,541 pieces, making it the largest LEGO set ever released. The set will hit stores on October 1st for $799.99, and will be available early for VIP members beginning Sept. 14.
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi LEGO sets officially revealed; available now — The full range of LEGO sets for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, including a buildable BB-8, are now available in stores and from the LEGO Shop Online. Potential spoilers ahead!
- LEGO’s Force Friday sale drops prices on more than 30 Star Wars sets — LEGO slashed prices across nearly the full LEGO Star Wars lineup, along with a sprinkling of other themes. Plus, double VIP points and some other freebies for Star Wars purchases.
- Announcing the TBB LEGO Millennium Falcon Contest — To celebrate the unveiling of LEGO’s monumental new 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon, the Brothers Brick is holding a building contest! Build a custom LEGO creation featuring the Millennium Falcon and you could win a a super rare limited edition Escape the Space Slug set.
OTHER TBB NEWS: We have two videos for you of a new LEGO mockumentary and a showcase of this year’s addition to the Winter Village, plus instructions to build a beautiful bird.
- Official trailer for Brick MADNESS released — TBB has your first look at the trailer for brick-themed mocumentary Brick MADNESS. The film pits an underdog “Brix” builder against an arrogant long-time champion in a battle to build his way to not only fame, but redemption.
- LEGO designer video offers an express look at 10259 Winter Village Station — LEGO’s winter holiday sets have become annual must-have items for fans looking to expand their winter village scene. LEGO has released a video in which the designer of 10259 Winter Village Station gives us a closer look at this highly anticipated set.
- Instructions to build a LEGO scarlet macaw — British builder Alan Mann shares his instructions to build an incredibly simple yet accurate scarlet macaw.
OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had quite a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles. Here are the best of the rest.
- This LEGO Formula One Car Is a Perfect Match to Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda, Jalopnik — The builders used 349,911 bricks that ultimately weighed 1,250 pounds. It took 844 hours to develop and 750 hours to actually build, which is nearly 65 full, 24-hour days.
- This 9-year-old girl from London is the world’s first child LEGO designer, Mashable — 9-year-old Sienna from London loves LEGO so much that she decided to have a go at designing her own set, that was so good it hit shop shelves worldwide on Sept. 1.
- LEGO mosaic re-creates “The Last Supper”, Orange Observer — Students in an Oakland Presbyterian Church club combined Seurat’s Pointillism style with da Vinci’s vision to create a 10-foot-long, 5-foot-tall re-creation of “The Last Supper” out of 78,408, bricks.
- LEGO job application from boy, 6, claiming ‘lots of experience’, BBC — A job advert for model builders at LEGOLAND Windsor attracted one star application – from a six-year-old boy who said, “I am the man [for] the job because I have lots of experience.”
- LEGO releases drone footage of BIG’s LEGO House nearing completion, de zeen —LEGO has flown a drone over its visitor center in Billund, Denmark, to capture stunning footage of its nearly completed stacked-block building.
The brick is mightier than the sword
The Iron Throne is probably one of the most iconic elements of the hysterically popular Game of Thrones series. But if you became the ruthless ruler of your particular domain, taking trophies from those you crushed to create a throne of your own to rule over them, what would it be constructed from? Builder Chris CAPTAIN uses LEGO to re-imagine the concept outside the crushingly limiting confines of a fantasy world filled with gigantic pies and toilet murders. Check out the full set here. This is a concept I’d love to see other builders try their hand at! (nudge, wink)
A good vintage year at the farm
This must be a good year for grapes as a fine crop of an unusual round, lime green variety are being harvested on Nadine Wölfle’s farm. The farm not only specialises in some fine wine production but also breeds goats to produce and sell goats milk. If you take a look inside the cart, a good stock of goats cheese is being taken to market today. This is a gentle scene that is both attractive and detailed, with the cute little home at the far end, and the vines being harvested at the other. I love the old fashioned method of stomping to crush the grapes before the juice is poured into barrels.
Some added views give us a chance to see those cheeses being transported and some of the details in the front court and house. There’s plenty to love about this quaint scene but my eyes keep returning to the method of crushing the grapes and getting the juice into the barrels. Much as I love it, I’m not entirely sure this would pass hygiene standards nowadays.
The fifth wheel
I never thought the fifth wheel of a car would be the most important one, but this incredibly unique VW Kübelkäfer built by Robert Heim makes me question my beliefs. The builder himself does not know exactly why anyone would drive or design a car like this, but the result is definetely original and interesting. While the central large tyre and its incorporation into the overall design of the vehicle is good, my favourite part has to be the cockpit, which appears to close up almost perfectly – just one of those satisfying moments when random bricks come together to create a very coherent shape.
Malt, hops, water, yeast, and ABS — the perfect pint
LEGO and beer — surely the perfect combination*. Austrian builder sanellukovic certainly seems to think so, having put together this fabulous Medieval brewery. I love the frame of poles out front supporting the hop vines, and the presence of a well — clean water being the single most important ingredient in good beer, and generally the reason for a brewery’s location.
The model has a nice interior, and there’s some great low-level photography to showcase it. I love when builders get their cameras down to minifig eye-level. It gives a wonderfully realistic feel when the images are up close like this…
*Always drink responsibly. Especially if you’re building something. Building whilst under the influence of alcohol often results in terrible models. And don’t even think about drinking beer if you’re not over the age of legal consumption in whatever country you live in. You hear us? Don’t be telling the cops that TBB told you it was okay.
Magic bricks are not as solid as they appear
Platform Nine-and-three-quarters has never looked so good. Jonas Kramm brings one of the most famous scenes in Harry Potter to life in LEGO bricks. There’s just enough detail here to stop the model looking too sterile, but not so much that it distracts the eye from the central action — the trolley disappearing into the wall. The half-trolley is really nicely done, with excellent shaping of the hole in the wall which creates the illusion. And the use of a butterfly net for that owl cage? Inspired.
